Trained Catholic exorcists in the US

As dollar stores have multiplied, Catholic exorcists have multiplied, a correlation of 0.981 that connects discount retail to demonic intervention with the economic efficiency of two institutions both expanding into underserved communities. The Dollar General opens in a rural town, the exorcist trains in a seminary, and both numbers climb because the same growing, anxious nation creates demand for both cheap goods and spiritual reassurance.

Dollar stores grew from about 16,000 to over 38,000 locations. Exorcists grew from 12 to over 175. Both are smooth upward curves across ten years, driven by different forms of institutional expansion into areas of demand. Dollar stores expand because economic conditions create customers; exorcists expand because the Vatican perceives growing demand for spiritual services. The shared variable is a growing nation with growing anxieties, served by institutions that expand to meet them.

Ten years of dollar stores and exorcists is a portrait of two institutions expanding into the same anxious America: one offering material relief at a dollar, the other offering spiritual relief through ritual. The store opens, the rite is performed, and both serve communities that feel underserved by the mainstream. The price is low. The stakes are high. The correlation is perfect.